Software Packages Used In
Digital Graphics
By Jack Turner
GIMP Software
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GIMP is a image editing and retouching tool.
It is free and open source software.
There are many versions of GIMP which work for
various different operating systems including
Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
Used also for resizing images, change there format,
crop them and make photo montages.
Many other features, such as various layer tools,
path tools, colour tools and several photo editing
tools for example: crop, rotate, scale and flip.
As well as this you can create animated images
using MPEG files and GIF files.
Used by professionals and is considered a rival
with Photoshop due to its high popularity. But
GIMP want it to work with Photoshop and to be a
standalone programme.
You can also pay for extra packages that help
graphics designers named paint studio. Comes
with various brushes and tools.
GIMP obviously has an advantage over Photoshop
as it is free graphics software where as Photoshop
is very expensive. But with GIMP you do have
purchase extra packages to get full use of it.
Corel Draw
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Coral draw is a vector graphics editor but you can
get the bundled package which includes Photopaint,
which can edit bitmap images.
It has many features which differ it from other
digital graphics software. It also many various
editing tools, including crop, contrast and colour
balance as well as adding special effects, borders
and vignettes to the bitmaps.
The programme files save under the format of CDR,
CDT or CDX.
The Photopaint suite also allows you to edit bitmap
images more detailed. As well as this you can edit
several layers and pages at once, all for one graphic.
Starting businesses often use Vector Graphics as it
is very useful for creating advertising graphics for
website graphics and for advertising
Corel Draw is one of the cheaper digital graphics
software compared to Photoshop. However, due to
popularity of Photoshop it is recognised and easy
for users to use.
Microsoft Expression
Design Studio
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Microsoft Expression Design Studio has many
tools for building and designing digital
media and web content.
It is a Vector Graphics suite
Program will add live effects to any object,
bringing more life to it.
Includes many features such as B-Spline,
Polyline and Bezier which all have full curve
control.
Can Import features from other programs
such as Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. But
you’ll have to purchase these programs also
to do so.
Good for professional use as you have access
to features capable of making large projects
which need huge designs and has many
tools to do so.
However, this comes at a heavy price and
there are cheaper alternatives to this
program such as Paintshop Pro.
PaintShop Pro
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Vector Graphics editor that runs on most
windows computers.
Was brought by the software company
Corel.
Program is very similar to Photoshop due
to the similar features it has.
This program includes many various
features, such as; pen tools, colour
palettes, brush tools, crop tools, selection
tools, filter effect, photo mapping and
many more
Two different versions of Paintshop Pro,
one being Paintshop Pro Ultimate which
comes with standalone programs and has
functions that can extend with Photoshop
plugins.
Good for personal enjoyment as oppose
to professional use.
Paintshop compared to Photoshop is good
as it is much more cheaper, but isn’t as
easy and well laid out as Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop CS5
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Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics designer and is the
most popular graphics editing software out at this
moment in time.
You can edit photos take by a camera or even photos
taken by the internet. You can then edit the photo using
various different tools such as changing the levels on the
photo, colour correction and cloning tools and many
more.
Photoshop help the graphic designer give there photos
or images a more professional look and commonly
printed in professional places such as billboards and
magazines.
There are two different versions of Photoshop the main
version and the extended version which is used to create
3D images, edit moving images and more features than
the main version, for the more advanced user.
File save under file name such as .PSB for larger photos
and .PSD for regular files
Photoshop however is very expensive and there are
other cheaper software (Coral Draw) and free graphics
software (GIMP). However these have less features
compared to Photoshop.
Resources
• http://www.webopedia.com
• http://www.howstuffworks.com